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FOUND: One Planet, Rocky, Relatively Close, Potentially Habitable
Part of Ophiuchus (Image: Rogelio Bernal Andreo/Wikimedia)At the rate that astronomers are finding potentially habitable exoplanets, the universe is starting to feel almost neighborly.A team in...
View Article'What a Christmas Present! Deportation!': The Revealing History of Ellis...
Children at Ellis Island in the early 1900s, displaying their Christmas gifts. (Photo: AP Images)In 1931, Sam Lee traveled 7,000 miles from his native China to begin a new life in New York City. On the...
View ArticleCheer Up, The Saddest Day of The Year Is A Hoax
Is one Monday in January the most depressing day of the year? Probably not. (Photo: SevenLittleThings/Flickr)The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and it is seriously bumming out...
View ArticleReindeer May Not Be Able to Fly, But They Do Have Ultraviolet Vision
What do those eyes really see? (Photo: Alexandre Buisse/WikiCommons CC BY-SA 3.0)Glen Jeffery started getting curious when people started sending him reindeer eyeballs. The eyeballs were being sent to...
View ArticleThe First Woman to Publish a Book in English Lived in One Room, Walled Off...
A statue of Julian of Norwich (Image: rocketjohn/Wikimedia)In 1413, Margery Kempe was embarking on a dangerous quest. She and her husband had agreed to be celibate: she was going to begin to live her...
View ArticleGolden Pigs, Jesus-Shaped Bread, and 5 Other Delightful European Christmas...
A Christmas market in Talinn, Estonia (Photo: Wikimedia)American Christmas has its own basic formula: Tree, ornaments, stockings by the fireplace, Santa Claus, presents, feast. (Plus, for observant...
View Article'There’s a County Mounty at the Pickle Park,' and More Creative Trucker Slang
A truck driver uses a CB radio at the National Museum of American History. (Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/flickr)"Smokey in the bush," says a fuzzy voice coming from a box on the dashboard. Any trucker...
View ArticleFleeting Wonders: Cowboys Rescue A Drowning Arizona Deer Via Lasso
One of the anonymous hero cowboys nabbing the distressed deer. (Image: Arizona GameAndFish/Youtube)When a mule deer falls into a canal, he's usually done for. But this past weekend, one Arizona...
View ArticleThe Story Behind the Famous Portrait of André the Giant Clutching a Beer Can
Andre the Giant holds a 12-oz can of Molsons beer. He is positioned next to the restaurant manager of the wrestler's own cafe. It was shot for a 1981 issue of Sports Ilustrated. (Photo: Sports...
View ArticleTumblr's #Boneghazi Meme And the True History of Robbing Louisiana Graves
A (thankfully) dry day at Holt Cemetery, a rare New Orleans below-ground burial site. (Photo: Mark Gsothl/Flickr)Last week, a user in a private Facebook group for witches advertised some rare...
View ArticleFOUND: Mysterious Gold Object in a Jerusalem Cemetery
The object in question (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority/Facebook)A few months back, a maintenance worker was in an old building in a Jerusalem cemetery and spotted an abandoned package in the...
View ArticleFleeting Wonders: SpaceX Successfully Recycles A Rocket Booster
Launch, re-entry, and landing traces from last night's Falcon 9 victory. (Photo: SpaceX/Flickr)The Falcon 9 rocket, the star of Elon Musk's SpaceX endeavors, has taken its share of bruises, most...
View ArticleObject of Intrigue: Two-Wheeled Transport for Regency Dandies
Regency dandies drag-racing their draisines at the Jardin du Luxembourg in 1818. (Image: Wikipedia/Public domain)This holiday season, millennials will be unwrapping futuristic-looking hoverboards,...
View ArticleSearching for the Mystery Lights of Marfa, Texas
Tumbleweed rolling down N. Highland Ave, Marfa. The building in the far left is the historic Hotel Paisano, featured in the classic film Giant with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. (All...
View ArticleMeet a Master Tarot Card Designer From Milan, Birthplace of Tarot
Osvaldo Menegazzi's supply-laden desk. (Photo: Lakshmi Ramgopal)Want to divine the future by looking at beautiful drawings? Pick up a tarot deck. These symbolism-heavy illustrated cards have been...
View ArticleThe Uncertain Future of Santa’s Village, An Abandoned 1950s Christmas Park
The former Good Witch's Bakery at Santa's Village. (All Photos: Sandi Hemmerlein)Christmas in Southern California is a funny thing. All the usual tropes of the holiday season just don’t apply—sleigh...
View ArticleFleeting Wonders: Octopus Plants Invade England
Alien eggs hatching in the new forest: the wonderfully weird Devil's Fingers pic.twitter.com/wiFeYr22vO— Dan Hoare (@DJHbutterflies) November 10, 2015A lot of non-native plants and animals at least...
View ArticleCan Bunnies Play? A Deep YouTube Investigation
Bun Bun, a creature we seek to understand. (Image: Amanda Engle/YouTube)It's been a long year, filled with tragedy and heartbreak, but balanced somewhat by the gift that keeps on giving—incredible...
View ArticleHow a Homeless Woman Rescued a Brazilian Murder Castle
The abandoned Castelinho da Rua Apa in Sao Paulo. (Photo: Eli Kazuyuki Hayasaka/flickr)It was May 12th, 1937. Elza Lengfelder, the housekeeper of a rich family in São Paulo, was putting her sons to bed...
View ArticleThe Toothbrush That Grows On Trees
Toothbrush and paste. (Photo: Jeremy Hockin/flickr)As you eat away the rest of 2015, consider this: the fancy electric toothbrush that you spent $100 to clean the holidays off your gums on might be no...
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